Sculpting the Elephant

To hear Sylvia’s own story and why she wanted to write Sculpting the Elephant watch this 4 minute video.

Harry King, artist and antiques dealer, thinks he has just made the worst purchase of his life – an enormous Victorian chest of drawers filled with ancient newspapers and bric-a-brac that now takes up half his shop. But when he trips over the beautiful historian Ramma Gupta, he realises he might have got more than he bargained for. Their story becomes entwined with the life of a Victorian explorer who mysteriously disappeared. A cross-cultural journey takes them from Oxford to India to uncover love, secrets, and the teachings of a lost empire.

Sylvia’s new book is available now from Amazon by clicking on the links below or order it at any book shop in the world:

Brushstrokes in Time

Sylvia’s novel published by Claret Press was 10 years in the making. In 2005, Sylvia reviewed an exhibition at the Ashmolean called ‘Everyone’s Life is an Epic’. The artist’s name was Qu Leilei and her extensive interviews with him, revealed that the epic life was Leilei’s. He was one of the founders of the Stars Art Movement (Beijing 1979). The story of their struggle for freedom of expression is inspirational. Sylvia says,”I have been interested in China from a young age but the Stars’ story was news to me despite one of the artists, Ai Weiwei now being a star throughout the world.”

The main characters in Brushstrokes in Time are all fictional but their story is told against a background of real events with the years 1976-1989 being at the heart of the novel.

Little Winter is a passionate artist from the time she can hold a pen. Like everyone from an educated background her life was tossed into turmoil by the coming of The Cultural Revolution. Cheerful and naïve, she is easily influenced and believes the indoctrination. The man she comes to love and marry, Hu Weiwei is intelligent, perceptive and unusually free thinking. His influence and her own painful experience open Little Winter’s eyes to the truth. Some chapters were hard to write but Brushstrokes in Time is about love and hope.

Oxford Castaways

Oxtopia is full. The third and final castaway book has been published on behalf of Sobell House. In 2007 Sylvia invented the mythical island of Oxtopia and in January 2008, in Oxfordshire Limited Edition magazine, she sent her first castaway Christopher Brown the then Director of the Ashmolean to the island. When the fiftieth castaway joined him there my editor, Tim Metcalfe, with the help of artist Weimin He combined the 50 interviews into a beautifully illustrated book called Oxford Castaways. Those fifty were joined by forty more remarkable people and their life stories are in Oxford Castaways 2, published by Oxfordfolio in support of Vale House.

The seemingly infinite pool of diversity ended in November 2016 with castaway No 120 – the final Oxtopian- Sylvia Vetta’s life story told by Philip Hind. Oxford Castaways 3 was published in March 2017 and the proceeds will go to Sobell House hospice.( copies available from the Sobell House shops and online shop) This 3 minute film will tell you something about the diversity of background of Sylvia’s castaways. All the world seems to pass through Oxford!

All proceeds to Sobell House when bought from the hospices online shop or charity shops:

https://youtu.be/_dvPNrKyALc Rebecca Haque is Professor of English Literature at Dhaka University and an inspiration to her students who want to be part of a progressive Bangladesh. I felt honoured when she offered to

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/27/dont-interfere-with-brexit-archbishop-of-canterbury-justin-welby-told With the Archbishop chairing one hopes that the language will be respectful. How has our political language become so debased? The Sun and Fox News have had the lowest standards for ever but in

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About the Author

Sylvia Vetta has written for the Oxford Times and its monthly magazine, Oxford Limited Edition, every month since 1998. Her ‘Castaway’ features included Shami Chakrabarti, Colin Dexter, Roger Bannister, Brian Aldiss and Sister Frances Domenica, and led to fifty of her interviewees being brought together in a book entitled Oxford Castaways, illustrated by Weimin He. She has written prolifically about art, antiques and history, and as chairman of the Friends of Kennington Library has organised literary festivals and gala evenings. She has recently finished two novels, one set in Oxford and India and the other, an historical novel, inspired by The Stars Art Movement (China 1979).